The present invention concerns bottled water dispensers, and more particularly concerns inserts which fit between commercial bottled water containers and water dispensing apparatus.
Dispensers of drinking water, non-aerated beverages, and the like in which a fluid-containing bottle is inverted upon a water-receiving dispenser vessel, which vessel may incorporate a cooler, are known in the prior art. In the refilling of bottled water dispensers it is, of course, necessary to replace an empty water bottle with an additional full one. In order to effectuate this replacement, the full bottle must typically be unsealed by the removal of a cork, plastic seal, plastic end cap or the like. The opened water bottle is then inverted onto a complementary inlet port of the dispenser with its open end facing in a downward position. In this position the water will pour out of the bottle until the level of water in the vessel has risen slightly above the plane of the open end or mouth of the bottle. When the water in the dispenser vessel reaches this level, the water cannot escape from the water bottle by reason of the fact that air cannot enter the bottle to displace the water. When, however, water is drawn off from the dispenser, normally through a faucet, during normal use then the water level within the vessel will fall. This falling level allows enough air to be admitted to the bottle so as to permit sufficient water to escape as to restore the level of the water in the vessel. The level of the water in the vessel thus remains constant, and never rises more than slightly above the plane of the mouth of the bottle--either when the bottle is first placed in the cooler or thereafter. This is the basic operational principle of bottle water dispensers and coolers which have been in use for many years.
Despite the long history of the bottled water dispenser devices, the replacement of a new, full, water bottle in substitution for an old, empty, water bottle remains troublesome. Particularly, the water is subject to splash from the full bottle during the course of its inversion onto the inlet port of the dispenser. This splashing is especially great when the inversion is performed slowly, or awkwardly, as is often the case when the water bottle is attemped to be manipulated by low physical strength users.
If this spilling is attempted to be eliminated by the placement of the user's hand over the mouth of the bottle, then upon inversion of the bottle, the palm of the hand is brought into direct contact with the drinking water which is typically unsanitary. Further, even if a user is very skillful and is able to place the water bottle in its inverted position within the dispenser by a quick tilting movement, a considerable quantity of water typically will escape the bottle during such movement and fill the water recepticle of the dispenser to a height above its normal operational water level above the mouth of the bottle. Thereby any dirt or contamination which may be present upon the outside of the neck of the bottle may be washed off into the drinking water. This little-considered effect means that even those who are physically skillful in the loading of water bottles into dispensers may, despite the absence of any spillage, temporarily induce an abnormal and potentially unsanitary condition within the water dispenser.
Because of these problems, it is known in the prior art to provide special funnels, or inserts, between containers holding liquids and recepticles receiving such containers in order to dispense the liquid therefrom. These containers include, but are not limited to, bottle water containers. The dispensers include, but are not limited to, bottled water dispensers.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,028,542 entitled "MEANS FOR DRAWING LIQUID FROM RECEPTICLES" issued to Christian discloses a funnel adapted to fit in an opening on the edge of a can. The funnel includes a piercer device for piercing the can so that its contents may flow into the funnel.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,142,210 entitled "LIQUID DISPENSING DEVICE" issued to Wagner discloses a bottled water dispensing device having a stand provided with an axial, upwardly projecting, spike or pin. The function of the spike is to perforate the bottle closure when the bottle is inverted upon the water-receiving vessel, and to permit water from the bottle to flow into the vessel.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,248,705 entitled "CONTAINER FOR DRINKING WATER" issued to Pogue further discloses an apparatus for protecting the potentially contaminated neck of a water bottle from contact with the water within the water compartment of a water cooler and water dispenser. A bottle with a relatively thick neck portion has an annular groove which mates with a complementary tongue end of a tubular member defining the input orifice to the water cooler. The bottle seals to the cooler in a water tight, annular ring, tongue and groove type arrangement. The cooler has a piercing device which pierces the sealed neck of the bottle only when the bottle is positioned upright and sealed to the input orifice of the dispenser Pogue also discloses a container for drinking water including a manually activated penetrator member adapted to puncture the seal upon a drinking water container.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,241,352 issued to Doering, Jr., et al., entitled "WATER DISPENSING DEVICE" discloses a resiliant water bottle closure adapted to be opened upon a penetrating member of a water dispenser.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,337,206 issued to Doering, et al., discloses a liquid cooling and dispensing apparatus which uses a penetrator member to rupture the seal upon the water container.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,979,323 entitled "LIQUID DISPENSING AND COOLING DEVICE" issued to Felesina, et al., discloses a liquid dispensing and cooling device having automatic seal-puncturing means retained within the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,806,635 entitled "CAN OPENER DEVICE" issued to Kader, et al., discloses a can-opening device adapted to fit upon the top of a pitcher and to puncture a can, releasing the contents of the can into the pitcher.
Of particular pertinence to the present invention is U.S. Design Pat. No. Des. 277,255 entitled "BOTTLED WATER DISPENSER INSERT" to the subject inventor of the present invention. The dispenser insert shown therein may be used to automatically puncture the seal upon a standard commercial bottled water container during installation of this bottled water container upon a standard water cooler. As depicted in the design patent drawing, the invention comprises a dish-like member which may be maintained upon the uppermost portion of the water reservoir of the water cooler. The dish-like member includes a star-shaped penetrator extending axially upwards. When it is desired to install a water bottle upon a water cooler, a user merely inverts the bottle with the cap thereon, and aligns the center portion of the bottle's cap with the star penetrator. Subsequently, the weight of the water in the bottle causes the penetrator to rupture the bottle's cap and to permit the bottle to seat itself upon the top of the bottled water cooler. Due to the insert having apertures adjacent its lowermost end, the water released from the bottle upon the puncturing of the cap is free to travel through the insert and into the reservoir of the water cooler from where it is subsequently dispensed.
The particular bottled water dispenser insert which is shown within U.S. Design Pat. No. DES. 277,255 is well-directed to performing a useful task, but has been found to exhibit functional imperfections in actual use. As a first area of difficulty, the star-shaped penetrator is illustrated to to include four substantially perpendicular knife edges. These knife edges are very effective to cut the nominally plastic cap, or seal, of a bottled water container. However, they may be too effective to do so; essentially quartering the plastic cap into triangular flaps of plastic which then flop, under their normal memory properties and under hydrostatic pressure, inwardly towards the star-shaped penetrator. The cap is thus fully and well severed, but its remaining material tends to detrimentally interact with the penetrator element to preclude full and unrestricted water flow from the container to the dispenser reservoir.
As a second area of difficulty, the prior art bottled water dispenser shown in U.S. Design Pat. No. Des. 277,255 employs four guide ridges to the interior of the insert, which ridges are progressively tapered toward the central penetrator spike. The purpose of the four ridges is to guide the neck of the bottled water container onto the neck of the spike. However, it has been found that they are insufficiently numerous, and inappropriately contoured, to perform reliably. Particularly, when only four ridges are used the neck of a bottle water container may extend between two adjacent ridges and the central penetrator spike, thereby becoming stuck in a position wherein the seal of the bottle water container is not penetrated, and wherein a removal and subsequent reseating may be awkward, difficult, or messy.
Furthermore, the contours of the four interior ridges to the prior art dispenser insert are particularly directed to guiding, but not to engaging, the neck of the water bottle. It is occasionally desired that the insert should be held on the neck of the bottled water container so as to be withdrawn automatically with the bottled water container during replacement, such that the reservoir of the dispenser may be inspected and the insert may be moved to the neck of a new bottled water container. Correspondingly, it would be desireable if the ribs of a bottled water dispenser insert were contoured, and sized, to frictionally engage the neck of a bottled water container so as to retain the insert upon the container, as well as to guide the container onto the inlet orifice of a bottled water dispenser.